Fade Into You
by ihidemycrazy
Summary: Caroline is a stripper, upset with how her life is turning out. Klaus is on the run from his family, who he has mistakenly crossed. Can these two save each other from these lives they're living? Klaroline AU.
1. Chapter 1

"_**Til there's no way to know where you end and where I begin"**_

Klaus strode quickly down the damp street, his long, dark coat making swishing noises with every step he took. He glanced over his shoulder every so often and then quickly sped up. He saw the lightning flash and heard the thunder roll, which masked the thudding footsteps coming up behind him. At the last second, he turned and saw his attackers. Five hulking men were behind him, covered with huge tattoos, painful piercings, and were definitely armed. He recognized four out of the five men and knew they weren't always pleasant company, so he began running. That's when the sky decided it wanted to be a tsunami today.

As the rain pounded on the sidewalk, Klaus sprinted away so fast that he could feel his feet blistering and burning. These men had come to collect, but he had nothing to give. Their most viable option was to beat his payment out of him. The thought of the coming pain was what drove Klaus to keep going faster. He turned left down an alley and began climbing on top of dumpsters, trying to reach the pull-down ladder for a fire escape. He leapt and his fingers barely grazed the bottom rung. Reevaluating his plan, he began running again, turning miscellaneously. Every time he thought he had possibly lost them, a dog would bark or he would run into a trashcan and send it clanging to the ground, giving away his location.

Klaus had been running a never ending maze for about fifteen minutes when he came to a fence that formed a dead end. Seeing no other option, he decided to jump it. He expected it to be like he was in a James Bond movie and he would just fly over it with ease, but no such luck. The fence was easier than the ladder, but it still slowed him down, especially when his shirt snapped him back, not quite ready to let go of the chains yet.

Finally freeing himself, Klaus could hear thudding steps gaining on him. He spotted a door that wasn't fully closed and decided to go for it. He whipped it open and threw himself in with as much force as he could muster, slamming the door behind him.

As Klaus panted and leaned against the door, he heard a screech, "Hey! Watch it!"

He tried to catch his breath and replied, "Sorry, love, didn't know you were there."

She slid her hands onto her hips and that's when Klaus noticed what she was wearing, or rather, what she wasn't wearing. You could see pretty much everything on this blonde's perfect body and she had quite a bit of body glitter. "Have I just entered a strip joint? Or do you dress like that for fun?" he inquired of the beautiful, though overdone, girl in front of him. Immediately he could tell he had upset her, but before he could save himself, she started yelling at him.

"You have _no right_ to judge me, my choice of profession in no way indicates my character or intellect. Stupid student loans, I'd be living fine without those sneaking up on me all the time. And, I mean, who is really proud of the job they have right out of college? Because point me in that direction-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Klaus interjected, "Slow down! I wasn't judging you; I just didn't know where I was. Trust me, I'm the last person who should be judging people based on their profession."

"Sorry, I'm a little stressed if you couldn't tell," the girl mumbled in response.

"No worries, sweetheart. You wouldn't happen to have a towel? It's a bit chilly in here," he said, shivering.

"We should have some somewhere, but customers aren't allowed back here, so you've either got to pay to watch the show or leave," she said with scooting motion of her hand.

"What if I'm not a customer? Can I sit back here then? Because I have absolutely no money and there's no way I'm going back out in that mess of weather. Plus, as you might have presumed, I was being pursued, and I'd prefer not to face my attackers, " he replied with a hopeful look on his face.

The girl groaned, "Seriously?" She watched him for a moment as he shrugged while presenting his empty hands to her. "Ugh, well, I guess you could stay back here as my guest… but only for a little while. The boss doesn't take lightly to freeloaders. And I need this job."

"Thank you, love. I promise not to get you fired," Klaus said as he slowly walked, hoping his shoes would _squish _as little as possible, then seated himself in a glittery pink version of a set chair, praying none of the sparkles would stick to his clothes.

The girl smiled to herself upon seeing his caution and concern about the glitter, then turned to go when he suddenly called after her, "Wait!"

She turned back to him as her arms slid to cross her chest and her bemused smile turned down with a hint of frustration. She raised her eyebrows and waited for his next request.

"What's your name? I need to know who's guest I am if someone asks," Klaus said while simply smiling to show his appreciation.

She boldly walked over to him and stuck out her hand for him to shake. He clasped his hand in hers and shook as she replied, "If someone asks, you're here with Chastity. Other than that, I am Caroline Forbes."

"A lovely name for a lovely woman," he replied with a small smile as he released her hand.

"And you are…?" she asked when he didn't immediately offer up the information.

"I am Klaus, but you may call me Nik if you prefer."

"Okay, Nik, I'll be back in about a half hour. Try not to break anything or stare at anyone excessively, kay?" Caroline said as she walked toward the stage.

While Caroline was doing her job, Klaus took it upon himself to peruse her station to learn more about her. Around her lighted mirror a few pictures were taped up, but not nearly as many as around her coworker's. There was a photo of Caroline with two dark-haired girls, probably twins, who appeared to work here with her. A different picture portrayed a tiny dog staring at the camera, tilting its head as though it was confused. The final picture was just Caroline's face, but she had obviously ripped the other person out of the picture. Caroline's cell phone was also on the table, but he knew better than to so blatantly invade her privacy. As he continued making his way through glitter and hair spray, one of the dark haired girls from the picture approached him.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here? Customers aren't allowed back here," the girl said.

"I am a guest of Chastity's; she said I could wait for her here," Klaus calmly replied.

She quickly raised her eyebrows and tilted her head before moving to her seat and reapplying mascara.

No longer alone, Klaus felt slightly more uncomfortable looking through Caroline's belongings, so he sat quietly, staring at his hands.

* * *

A while later, the clacking of heels made Klaus turn his head to find Caroline pulling cash from her cleavage.

"Good haul tonight?" Klaus asked.

"I've had better, I've had worse. The best part is that now I get to leave," she said while jumping up and down, shimmying into her jeans. Sliding on her coat, she asked, "Aren't you coming?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Klaus said, hurrying after her.

Outside, the rain had stopped, but thunder threatened its return, so the two hurried into the nearest coffee shop. As soon as they entered, an employee yelled, "We are closing in two minutes. Please leave now so I can too."

Caroline groaned and yelled, "You are _so _not getting a tip next time, Johnny." She grabbed Klaus's hand and pulled him after her through the door.

In the second they had been inside, the rain had started up again, so Caroline told Klaus to follow her as they ran down the street. After a few blocks, they ducked into the lobby of Caroline's apartment building. Looking at Klaus, she sighed, "Oh gosh, you're completely soaked through. Look, if you swear you're not a serial killer, you can come up to my apartment and dry off. But you have to promise," as she held out her pinky.

He entwined his pinky with hers and said, "I promise I'm not a serial killer."

"Okay, fantastic. I'm freezing, let's go," Caroline said as she pushed the elevator button and shivered.

Once they stepped into the elevator, Klaus rubbed his hands up and down Caroline's arms, trying to warm her up. She gave him a look that he didn't entirely understand. Her gratitude was slightly masked by her confusion and surprise. He just smiled down at her and she shyly returned the gesture.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, so the pair hurried down the hall. Caroline fumbled her keys a couple of times before she finally unlocked the door and the two hurried inside to kick off their shoes and shrug out of their jackets. As Klaus whipped off his sopping wet t-shirt, Caroline glanced up at him and gasped.

Klaus, surprised, asked, "What?"

"Oh, um, nothing. I'll go grab you a towel and some of my ex-boyfriend's clothes. They might be a little small on you, but they'll fit better than my clothes," Caroline laughed as she mentally fanned herself. His abs were causing her to have a bit of a freak out. She handed him the clothes and tried not to stare, or at least let him see that she was staring. Though, judging from his amused and triumphant grin, he noticed.

"So, I'm going to go change real quick and throw our clothes in the dryer. Make yourself at home."

Caroline changed into her pajamas and noticed the mascara smeared down her face when she glanced in the bathroom mirror. Sighing as she turned on the faucet, she began grumbling about her job and the inordinate amount of makeup and sparkles involved with it. Right before every smear of makeup was removed from her face, Caroline heard a high pitched yipping which meant Mojito had found their house guest. She grumbled "Shit!" and ran back into her living room.

Klaus had tilted his head in confusion as he stared at the small puffball growling at his feet.

Caroline hustled over and scooped up her tiny dog saying, "I'm so sorry. She thinks she's actually a rottweiler that could protect me from intruders."

Klaus chuckled, then was stunned by her face. He knew she was pretty, but now without all of her makeup, he could see that she was absolutely gorgeous. There was just one smudge of black on her temple, so he lifted his thumb to her face to brush off the remnants. Caroline stared into his blue eyes as they shifted from her cheek to her eyes. They held each others' gaze for a moment, then he quickly glanced to her lips before returning to her eyes, almost questioning, as he slowly inched toward her face. She slightly moved forward before rapidly turning away and breaking eye contact.

She placed Mojito in her bed and, now a few feet away from Klaus, she turned back to him and asked, "Do you have anywhere to stay tonight? If you don't, you can stay here, since you already promised you weren't a serial killer and whatnot."

"That'd be lovely, sweetheart, but only as long as I'm not putting you out," Klaus replied, reverting back to the manners his mother had taught him as he tried to calm down his breathing and heart rate.

"Don't be silly, I'm not put out at all. Mojito might not be overly fond of the idea, but she can get over it," Caroline smiled.

"Wait, is your dog's name legitimately Mojito?" Klaus asked, slightly shocked.

"Yeah, she looks like a Mojito, don't ya think?"

Klaus laughed and said, "Well, I guess if any dog deserved the name, it would be this one." He extended his hand to show the dog he wasn't going to hurt her, but she just growled.

"Sorry, she's probably just grumpy because it's so late. I'm sure she'll like you more in the morning," Caroline said as she pet the dog's soft ears.

"Speaking of the lateness of the hour, I assume the couch is my bed for the night?" Klaus asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, I'll go grab you some blankets and stuff. I'm a little amped and I'll be awake for a little while longer so if you need anything, just let me know," she said as she jumped for the blankets on the top shelf of the closet. Seeing her struggle, Klaus stood and walked up behind her saying, "Allow me."

Both still standing in the doorway of the shallow closet, the pair was very close. Klaus didn't seem to notice, intent on reaching the blankets, but Caroline sure did. She observed the way his bicep flexed as he lifted the first blanket, his strong forearm easily transferring the pillow down, and how his extended arm made his shirt rise to expose an inch or two of the smooth, tan, muscular stomach.

Her mind quickly jumped to the beautifully horrible things they could do right here, right now, and the thoughts were so obscene they made her blush. Trying to hide her embarrassment, Caroline slipped out of the doorway and asked Klaus if he wanted anything to drink.

Escaping to the kitchen area, Caroline took deep breaths as she filled up two glasses of water. _You don't even know this guy _she thought. _And you promised yourself you'd be single for a while after the Tyler incident, remember? _The devilish side of her conscience chose that moment to speak it's mind. _One roll in the hay doesn't make you in a relationship! You need a rebound! _The more conscientious conscience argued _You don't do that. Don't start now. _

Caroline's mental voice broke through the quarreling voices in her mind as she walked back into the living room. _Both of you shut up. I'll do what and who I want when I want, you have no say in the matter!_

"Thank you, sweetheart," Klaus said as she handed him the glass.

Pulled out of her inner argument, Caroline nodded.

"So, if you are planning on being up a little while longer, what do you say you stay up with me and we watch t.v. or something? I'm not particularly tired yet," Klaus suggested, even though his muscles were crying from the earlier pursuit, the kind of pain that could only stop through sleep.

"Oh, sure," Caroline replied as she grabbed the remote and carefully sat in the small space left on the couch, curling in her legs and getting comfortable.

* * *

Klaus slowly opened his eyes , sensing the sunlight streaming in from the windows. Noticing his surroundings, he found Caroline laying half on him, half on the remaining space of the couch, sound asleep. Her legs was intertwined with his and her hands gripped his shirt as if she was aware of how precarious her position was.

He heard a quiet knock at the door and when Caroline didn't stir, he carefully maneuvered her into his position and slid off the couch.

Still in a sleepy daze, Klaus opened the door without thinking about the fact that it wasn't his house and he only vaguely recognized the girl through the peep hole.

The girl gasped the second she saw him and pushed past him without saying anything. Storming down the hall, the girl yelled, "Caroline, you'd better wake the fuck up because you have _so _much explaining to do!"

"Well, good morning to you too," Klaus mumbled under his breath as he closed the door.

Coming back into the living room, he saw the girl standing over Caroline with her hands on her hips. Caroline, still confused by her newly awakened state asked, "Kat, what are you doing here? It's early. And why are you yelling?"

Katherine said nothing, she simply pointed at Klaus, who was trying in vain to be a chameleon.

"Oh, that's Nik, stop freaking out. Morning, Nik," Caroline replied as she snuggled back into her makeshift bed.

Pulling Caroline out of bed, Katherine said, "Caroline, this Nik person just slept in your house. Or didn't sleep. Do you even know his last name?"

Caroline, confused for a moment said, "Oh, well, no." Turning to Klaus she asked, "What's your last name?"

"Mikaelson," Klaus replied quickly.

"Now I do know his name, but to answer your more pertinent question, yes, we actually slept. Nothing else. Calm down, Kat," Caroline sighed.

"Caroline, I will not calm down. You can't just invite random men over if you're not at least going to do the nasty! That's when they get pissed and abduct you!" Katherine said.

Klaus sincerely hoped she just had a strange sense of humor.

"Look, it was all fine. I won't invite people to sleepover anymore, kay? Even though I do think somebody's being a bit of a hypocrite," Caroline said, raising her eyebrows with her suggestion.

Finally letting go of Caroline, Katherine said, "Fine. Are we going to get coffee or what?"

"Um, sure. I just need to get dressed first. Keep Nik company while I'm gone," Caroline said striding out of sight.

Slowly walking over to Klaus, Katherine extended her hand and said, "If you didn't catch on, I'm Katherine."

"Nik," he replied while shaking her hand.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, awkwardly shuffling their feet and waiting for Caroline, they both released sighs of relief when she finally came out.

"Um, Nik, we're going to go get coffee for a little while, would you be okay staying here alone? Oh, well, with Mojito," she asked.

"Of course not. Have fun and take as long as you'd like, I'll be perfectly fine."

"Okay, see ya in a bit, bye."

"Goodbye, Caroline and Katherine, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Katherine grunted as she exited the apartment.

They locked the door behind them and Klaus suddenly heard growling.

Looking apprehensively down at Mojito, he pondered how much damage a dog that small could do.

* * *

**AN : So... did you like it? I hope you did! I also, don't have one of those image thingies, so if someone wanted to make one for me, I'd be eternally grateful. Please, please review and follow me on tumblr at ihidemycrazy for some lovely Klaroline goodness! Love y'all!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**"I wanna breathe out when you breathe in"**_

All alone with Mojito, Klaus tried everything to encourage the dog's affections. He made attempts to pet her and even fed her some meat that he found in the fridge, but nothing was working. Everything he did just made her seem to like him less, so finally giving up, he made himself some coffee.

Looking at a beautiful picture of Caroline stuck to her fridge, Klaus was distracted and missed the counter when he tried to set down his cup. It fell to the floor and, miraculously, didn't break.

Klaus mumbled, "Shit," and began searching the cabinets for paper towels to clean up.

While he was looking, Mojito started lapping up the coffee off the ground. Once she got all that was available, she ran over to Nik and jumped up onto her hind legs. She pawed at his knees and whined, letting him know she wanted more.

"Coffee? That's what wins you over?" Klaus said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Mojito just looked at him with her ears perked, obviously adoring him now that the coffee relation was established.

* * *

Caroline walked in to find Klaus and Mojito playing tug-of-war like they were the best of friends.

"Wow, would you look at that? I told you she only disliked you because she was tired," she said as she walked down the short hallway.

Nik chuckled and replied, "I'm sure that was it. How was your coffee with Katherine?"

"Great, once she got over the whole you being here thing."

"I'm glad. Also, I would like to thank you for letting me stay here last night. It was beyond gracious of you, but I will be leaving so as to no longer impose," Klaus said.

"Do you have another place to go? Or are you no longer in danger from the people that were chasing you last night?" Caroline questioned, hesitant to let him leave.

"Well, no on both cases, but it is really unfair of me to ask such an inconvenience of you," Klaus replied.

"It's no inconvenience, I promise. If it makes you feel better, I've just gone through a terrible breakup and I still haven't gotten very good at being alone. Having you here makes me feel safer and sleep better, even though I hardly know you at all."

Klaus smiled and said, "Well, if you prefer that I stay over my departure, I must oblige." He took a half bow as if to make fun of his own formal actions.

Caroline returned the smile and said, "Fantastic! Do you have anywhere you need to be? A job or anything? Well, I guess being on the run means you don't have to go work, so that's a plus for your situation. Anyways, I don't have to go to work until tonight, so maybe we could do something?"

"Of course, I'd thoroughly enjoy spending the day with you. What would you like to do?"

"Well, it's sprinkling outside and there's nothing like walking in the rain, so maybe we could stroll through central park and you can explain to me why you're being pursued by big scary dudes," Caroline said, hoping he'd agree. She was dreadfully curious to learn what he had done.

"Yes to the walk, maybe to the story," Klaus said with a coy smile.

"I'll torture you until you tell me, you have officially been warned. Are you ready to go now?"

"Sure, love, and it's not that I want to keep things from you; it's that you won't particularly like it," Klaus said as he held the door for her, being the gentleman that every girl deserves.

"Oh, you're so sure of that, are you?" Caroline smiled.

Klaus just laughed as he shut the door behind them.

* * *

Katherine quickly made her way up the stairs to her apartment, silently praying the man in her bed was either gone or was very tired from the events that transpired last night… or this morning, depending on your perspective on what is officially a new day.

Last night, after her shift at the club, Katherine had hit up her regular bar. Drinking until her knees wobbled, Katherine was finally the right mixture of angry with life's tendency toward turning out as difficult as possible and intoxicated to go home with the doctor who had be hitting on her for months.

She didn't remember much about the night before, besides the sex being incredible. Another problem was that she had a distinct feeling that he would think this meant so much more than it actually did. She wasn't the relationship type, as Caroline not-so-subtly had hinted at before, but she just thought it was strange to strip for all these random men then return home to her hubby. And she couldn't imagine someone being okay being in a relationship with a stripper. Most men wouldn't share.

Quietly hurrying through the door, she accidentally dropped her purse, spilling out all of it's contents.

"Shit!" she whispered to herself.

The commotion seemed to wake up the naked man in her bed. He slowly sat up, ran his hand through his hair, and blinked a few times before saying, "Good morning, beautiful."

"Oh, um, yeah, hi. How'd you sleep?" She asked while picking up her keys and the rest of the mess.

"Quite well, thank you. Any chance you'd like to come back to bed?" he asked stretching his lean, strong muscles.

"Oh no, sorry, I've already had coffee, so I'm up for the day. Would you like some breakfast? I think I have toast, maybe. Possibly cereal? Hold on, I'll look," she replied, rummaging through the nearly empty cabinets.

Opening the fridge, she said, "Batteries and nail polish. I assume neither of those sound particularly appetizing?"

He laughed and replied, "Well, I can't say, I've never tried either of those options for breakfast, but I'm usually fonder of actual food."

Katherine just smiled in return.

"Actually, I've got to go to the hospital, sadly enough. Rain check on breakfast?" he said as he quickly threw on his clothes.

"Oh, sure. Have fun at work."

"I'll call you later and we'll discuss meeting for coffee," he said, kissing her cheek and making his way out the door.

* * *

Klaus and Caroline were walking down the sidewalk, walking close enough to periodically brush arms. Every time that happened, Caroline would get a little tingle extending through her fingers.

"So, tell me about yourself. As Katherine so kindly pointed out this morning, we don't know much about one another. What's your job? What's your family like?" she asked him.

"Well, my job is the reason I was being chased yesterday, so I won't go into that, though I will disclose that it's not precisely legal. I had four brothers and a sister, but one brother died with my father in a car accident and another does not approve of the family business, so he rarely associates with us," Klaus said quickly, showing as little emotion as possible.

"Oh my gosh, that's horrible and awful and sad. I'm sorry, I don't have much experience with death. How old were you when they died?" Caroline gasped, bringing her fingers to her face in shock.

"Fifteen, but I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay. Why don't you tell me about your family?"

"Okay, well, I don't have any siblings and my parents are divorced because my dad suddenly decided he was gay a few years ago. I don't see either of them very often because mom travels a ton and dad's boyfriend has young kids who take up most of his time," Caroline said, shrugging her shoulders as if to say _who cares?, _even though she really did.

"I'm sorry, that must be very difficult for you. Maybe we should try for a more positive conversation? Oh, let's get hot dogs," Klaus said, lightly placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the cart.

He paid for the two hot dogs with his last dollars and quietly sighed at the emptiness of his wallet.

Caroline took a bite and let out a tiny moan. She didn't usually let herself indulge in food with such high fat content because she has to keep everything looking perfect if she wants to keep making money, but this hot dog was divine.

Klaus grinned and was happy that his last dollar had gone to such a noble cause.

After finishing their food, the pair continued down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence. Their footsteps were in unrehearsed synch and each would occasionally glance at the other, sometimes locking eyes. When this happened Caroline would smile, blush, and turn her head away. Klaus simply chuckled and continued to observe the magical way in which she moved.

Suddenly, Caroline tripped and would have gone tumbling into the gutter had Klaus not caught her. Once she had regained her balance on the sidewalk, he entwined her hand with his and said, "Can't have you taking a nasty spill, can we? And it appears that I may have better balance than you. Hold on tight," with that gorgeous smirk.

Caroline laughed and thanked him for catching her.

They carried on, not afraid to laugh and joke with each other. They walked for hours once they reached Central Park, getting lost in conversations about a myriad of things, learning their similarities and differences. Noticing the sunset, Caroline said, "Oh jeez, I totally lost track of time, we've been walking all day! I've got to go to work soon, we should head home," as she picked up the pace toward their destination, pulling him after her by their hands that were still linked.

She quickly dropped him off at the house and before he knew it, she was gone.

He looked down at the dog and said, "I guess it's just you and I, Mojito," walking to the kitchen to make her some coffee.

* * *

As soon as Caroline walked through the door of the club, she was attacked by a mob of excited strippers. They overwhelmed her with questions like "What's he like?" or "Are you in looove?" until she finally said, "Stop! What are you all talking about?"

They were quiet for a second before Bonnie spoke up and said, "Katherine told us that the guy who was back here last night was at your place this morning. We want the details!"

"Oh, well he needed a place to stay and he seemed nice enough, so I let him sleep on my couch," Caroline said as she shrugged.

Vicki butted in, saying, "I saw that boy and there is no way something didn't happen between you two last night. Give us the actual details."

"I already did because nothing happened last night. We watched tv for a bit then fell asleep."

"Is he staying with you tonight?" one of the girls asked.

"Yes, why?" Caroline replied.

Elena said, "Because if you don't tap that, I don't think we can be friends anymore. How could you possibly be immune to that accent! If he was staying at my place, and Stefan and I weren't together, my panties would drop so fast that we'd never find them again!"

Caroline laughed at her friends and said, "I just said that nothing happened _yet_," raising her eyebrows, waiting for them to catch on.

The girls all squealed like they were in middle school and she waved them off as she got ready to take the stage.

As she strutted across the stage, the strangest thing happened. Every man's face in the crowd morphed into Klaus's. She paused and tried to focus, discovering that if she zeroed in on individual faces, she could see what the person actually looked like. Mentally shrugging she continued on, dancing for every Klaus in the room, making more cash than ever before.

* * *

Katherine sighed when she saw Caroline coming back with tons of money. It wasn't because she wasn't happy for her friend; it just meant that her chances of getting anything tonight were much slimmer.

She was trying to get in the right state of mind before her turn, but she had just been listening to the six voicemails Elijah had left throughout the day. The first few were sweet and just when he got a second off of work and wanted to reemphasize how much fun he had the previous night, but the later ones were more concerned and worried that she hadn't called him back or met him at the coffee shop like they planned. Of course she never actually planned on meeting him there; she didn't plan on seeing him again ever. She just hated telling guys that. But the amount he liked her was startling and kind of put Katherine off her game.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped on stage, only to be immediately yanked back by the manager.

"Not so fast. A man has specially requested your presence in the VIP room. Go. Now," he said, chewing on his cigarette.

Katherine mumbled "Shit," as she walked toward the VIP room. She particularly hated this part of her job. The men were always sleazy losers who were most always in a very unfulfilling marriage. She felt horrible about degrading herself to that level, but it paid three times as much as dancing and she could hardly afford her rent this month.

Shortly pausing to mentally prepare herself, Katherine eased open the door with hopes that the man behind it wasn't three times her size.

"Fuck!" she exclaimed. "Elijah, what are you doing here? How did you know I worked here?"

"Hold on, Kat. Come sit, let me explain," Elijah said, patting the seat next to him.

Frustrated and confused, she stomped over and plopped down, then raised her eyebrows as if to say _I'm waiting. _

Elijah quickly started talking. "I came in here a few months ago after a horrible day at work. I had lost a patient, a little boy, and it was very hard on me. I sat down and watched you dance and it was amazing. You mesmerized me, took my mind completely off my sadness. I knew then that I had to at least know you and see if some of your magic could rub off on me. Don't freak out, but I kind of followed you to the bar that night. We met, you blew me off for the first of many times, but it made me feel alive in a way I had never felt before. Then, fast-forwarding to today, I realized that don't actually particularly care about me. Even though you feel that way, I think, if you give me an actual chance, you might find that your feelings have changed. So I came to see if you would. Give me a chance, that is," he said, slightly out of breath by the end.

Surprised, Katherine asked, "You're okay with me being a stripper?"

Elijah laughed and asked in return, "That's what you're worried about?"

Looking down, she softly replied, "Yes."

Grabbing her hands in his, he said, "Hey. Look at me. If you're willing to take a chance on us, I don't care what you do for a living."

Katherine leaned over and kissed him. Against her lips, Elijah asked, "Is this a yes?"

She nodded as she deepened the kiss.

* * *

Caroline tried to be quiet `as she entered her apartment, assuming her guest was already asleep. Surprisingly, she found Nik sitting on the couch, reading. He looked up at her when she came in and closed the book when she said, "Oh, you're still up."

He stood, saying, "Yes. For one, that book looked really good and for two, I never got to tell you what an excellent time I had with you today."

She smiled and replied, "I had a really great time today too."

Quickly, she ran into the bathroom and washed off her makeup. She could never stand the heaviness of mascara on her lashes. Exiting the bathroom she ran smack into Nik. He caught her waist to steady her, his warm hands touching the inch of skin between where the bottom of her shirt ended and her jeans began, and as he took in her face, no longer obstructed by makeup, he murmured, "You're beautiful."

Without thinking, she crushed her lips against his. He only had a moment of hesitation before he matched her enthusiasm. Her fingers curled in his hair, pulling him closer, wanting more.

She walked backwards, pulling him with her, until she hit her bedroom door. His lips trailed down her neck, burning with every touch. Her hands raced under his shirt, pulling at the hem and exposing the perfect skin beneath. They broke apart for a moment to throw his shirt on the ground and Caroline placed her hand on the doorknob. Noticing her pause, Klaus asked, "Are you sure about this?"

Caroline eagerly nodded her head before opening the door and grabbing his lips with hers again. His hands slid smoothly down her back, running over her ass, and then moving down to her thighs, which he used to lift her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips, crossing her ankles and clutching his wide, strong shoulders. Klaus lowered her to the bed and made a trail of kisses from her eat to her collar bone while Caroline closed her eyes in ecstasy.

Out of nowhere, the two large windows in her room shattered as two men came flying in. Klaus shielded Caroline from the sharp pieces of glass raining down on them. Caroline screamed, holding tightly onto Klaus. Once she stopped, the shorter of the two men said, "Hello, brother."

The other said, "I guess we chose a rather inconvenient time to impose."


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting behind Klaus on the bed, Caroline clutched his shoulders and asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't intend to frighten you. Well, we did, but we're not going to hurt you. I'm Finn and this is Kol, and we are here to speak to our brother, the half naked man sitting beside you."

Turning to look at Nik, she asked him, "Is that true? Are these people your brothers?"

Sighing, Klaus replied, "Yes and I am so sorry that they're doing this," while gently placing his hand on her knee.

"Niklaus, could you please put on a shirt so we can have a legitimate business conversation, "Kol asked gesturing at his brother.

Klaus stood up and sternly said, "A legitimate business conversation went out the window when you flew in one!"

Finn came between the two before they could argue further and come to blows like they had so often done before. "Don't start. Niklaus, this was necessary. We had to find you."

"Yeah, your men chasing me yesterday in no way implied that. Maybe you should have caught on to the fact that I do not want to be found!"

"Niklaus, mother is not actually mad at you! She just needed to maintain her reputation by pretending to punish you for your mistake," Finn said.

"Well she did a bloody good job!"

Kol interjected, "You know mother. She never does anything half-assed."

"Just come home, brother. You don't need to stay here anymore with this girl," Finn said, mostly ignoring his brother.

"Maybe I don't want to work with the family anymore, Finn. Maybe I'm not okay with being chased down the street just for show! If you expect me to come home, you're horribly mistaken," Klaus said, rightfully stubborn.

Sensing that Klaus was not going to leave, Kol quickly ran and threw Caroline over his shoulder, fireman-style.

Flailing her arms and legs, Caroline yelled, "Hey! Put me down. Now!"

"No can do, my dear. You're my leverage."

"What?" She yelled.

"We're taking you hostage until Niklaus decides to come home." With that, Kol jumped out the window and disappeared from sight, Finn following quickly behind.

Klaus quickly ran to the window and yelled, "Stop!" He saw the car peel out and mumbled to himself, "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He hurried to grab a coat for Caroline and himself, remembering Mojito, not sure how long this would take.

* * *

An hour later, after getting lost twice, Klaus finally arrived at the grate in the tiny alleyway that was the latest entrance to his family's home. His family had lived underground for as long as he could remember. They had paid tons to convert broken-down subways into a beautiful mansion and by far the largest property in all of New York City.

Slowly ascending down the staircase, he came to the keypad entry. Surprisingly, Klaus found that the password was the same as when he left. They knew he could come.

He hurried into the door, and no longer finding it surprising when his family was waiting for him right inside the door.

"I'm here, let her go," Klaus said sternly, hoping to get her out of whatever prison they were holding her in as quickly as possible.

Rebekah sighed, "Nik, what are you doing with that dog?"

"Rebekah, let her out _now._"

"Calm your shit, Nik. She's in the kitchen," Rebekah said as she turned and walked away.

Rushing into the kitchen, Klaus found Caroline sitting at the counter eating ice cream out of the carton. Upon his entrance, she looked up in shock, spoon dangling from her mouth. Quickly removing it, she stammered, "The expiration date said today and I was planning on finishing it anyway, this isn't as gross as it seems, I just really miss ice cream. Is that Mojito?"

Klaus had already put Mojito down and quickly walked over to Caroline, tightly pulling her into his embrace. Resting his chin on top of her head he said, "I was so worried you were locked in a dungeon or something. Are you okay?"

"Your family has dungeons?" Caroline asked.

"Shush, love. Are you okay?" Klaus asked, releasing her slightly so as to look into her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Besides being thrown over your brother's shoulder, I was treated very well. After a short car ride, they left me here, saying to make myself at home."

"Really? That's quite unlike them…" Klaus said, confused.

"They seemed rather confident that you'd be here shortly. Maybe it just wasn't worth their time."

"We should leave before they decide that you are," Klaus said.

As if sensing their hope to leave, his mother suddenly appeared, blocking the doorway.

"Leaving without saying hello, Niklaus? I thought I raised you better than that," Esther said.

"Hello, mother. Goodbye, mother," Klaus said quickly, trying to squeeze past her, but failing.

"My son, you didn't actually believe you would be allowed to leave after you came here?"

Klaus sighed. "Not entirely. If you do not trust me to escort Caroline out, you may do so yourself."

Esther laughed and Klaus knew the next words out of her mouth wouldn't be good. "She can't leave either, darling. She knows how to get in. This girl is not allowed to leave until we can cement over the entrance she came through and find a new one."

"Mother, you and I both know you thought of that before she came in. If you wanted her to be able to leave, you would have found a way around letting her see the entrance. Why do you need her to stay here?"

"Niklaus, I don't know if you've noticed this, but she is an excellent motivation for you to do your job. She stays here until you are fully committed again."

Caroline interjected, "I'm sorry to interject, but I do have a job. If I miss it, I'll be fired and I really need that income."

"Dear, I will pay you double what you get on your best night for every night that you're here. I will call your boss as your doctor and saw you are hospitalized with some obscure infection to explain your prolonged absence," Esther said reassuringly.

Taken by surprise, Caroline simply replied, "Oh. Thank you."

"And you will be extremely comfortable, we have everything you could ever want here and you simply must make yourself at home. In regards to your rooming situation, we have plenty of open rooms that you could stay in, but I'm sure my son will also let you stay in his room if that makes you more comfortable," Esther said, quite nonchalantly.

Both Caroline and Klaus blushed at this statement, and as Caroline noticed his color, she laughed and said, "Yes, if that isn't inappropriate, I would feel most comfortable in Klaus's room, if he doesn't mind. Thank you."

"I meant Kol, but if you prefer Niklaus, I cannot fault you for that," Esther smiled over her shoulder as she walked away.

Caroline laughed and turned to Klaus. "Your mom is funny."

"I haven't seen my mother like that in ages, not since my father died and we got involved in this ridiculous business. She seems to have taken a liking to you. You're really quite lucky in that respect," Klaus smirked at her.

"Would you believe that's the first mom that has liked me _ever_?" Caroline asked.

"I truly doubt that. Would you like a tour of your jail?" Klaus asked, offering his arm.

Hooking her arm in his, Caroline replied, "Yes, thank you."

Gesturing to a large room, Klaus said, "This is our quote-unquote fun room. We have all the games and whatnot, but as you can tell by the dust, we don't use it much and the maid needs to be fired."

Caroline laughed as he continued the tour. He pointed out various rooms and explained their purpose and whether or not she should actually enter. They finally got to his room where he opened the door for her and she entered. As she wandered around his room, he stood in the doorway and just watched her with a small smile. Turning to him, Caroline asked, "Are you coming in?"

"In a moment. I enjoy watching you, the way you move and the subtle expressions of your face. You're always full of light."

"Well, now I'm self-conscious, so you have to come in," Caroline said with an enticing smile.

Klaus casually entered his room and replied, "As you wish."

Glancing at the clock, Caroline was shocked. "Is that really what time it is?"

"Yes, it's quite early. If you'd like to go to sleep, you can have the bed. I left a book unfinished here a little while ago and I wanted to finish it. I'll just read in the chair," Klaus said, settling in.

"Only if you promise you won't leave while I'm asleep. You're the only person I know here and you still haven't told me what your family does, so I'm not sure how worried I should be."

"Don't be worried. They know that if they hurt you, they have to deal with me, so they won't."

"Aren't you powerful?" Caroline said, smiling as she snuggled into bed. Mojito jumped up after her.

"Nice of you to notice, sweetheart. Go to sleep," Klaus urged as her eyes drifted closed.

Moments later, somehow sensing that their guest was asleep, Rebekah slid into the room and silently closed the door behind her.

"Hey Nik," she said as she sat on a chair across from him.

"Hello, Bekah. How are you?" Klaus asked, hardly taking his eyes from his book.

"Great now that you're home, but I'm incredibly confused about why this girl is here as well," she said as she gestured to Caroline.

"That is Caroline and if you or anyone else makes an attempt to hurt her, you will have to deal with me and-"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll face your fiery wrath. I know. You said the same thing about every toy you owned when we were children. Is she another toy?"

"No she's not a toy!" Klaus said at a normal volume, but caught himself as Caroline shifted in her sleep.

"God, Nik, it's not such a crazy question. You're not exactly a relationship man. Mother and I are the only women you even talk to!"

"She's special, Rebekah. That's all I will say on the matter," Klaus said, returning to his book.

"I better like her, Nik. I don't want an insufferable girl hanging around just because you like her," she said as she quietly exited.

These words meandered into Caroline's ears as she slept and intermingled themselves into her unconscious. She was suddenly at a party, drinking champagne. All of her coworkers were there, including Katherine, but so was Rebekah. In her dream state, Caroline didn't question this relative stranger's appearance. They were all laughing and having this fabulous time. Streamers and balloons gathered together on the ceiling and a beautiful array of food was spread across the table.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door and Rebekah scrambled to answer it. When she opened it, there was a hot cop at the door. He said, "There have been some complaints about noise. I'm afraid you girls might be in a bit of trouble."

Rebekah went into the only problem-solving method she had: she flirted her ass off. Her antics were actually working, which wasn't unprecedented, but it wasn't exactly usual in regards to cops.

Out of nowhere, music started playing and it became very clear why Bekah's flirting was working so impeccably. As he ripped off his shirt, the girls whooped and got to enjoy the other side of their profession. Rebekah squealed, "I'm so happy that after tomorrow we'll be sisters!" tightly hugging Caroline.

Caroline whipped up and accidentally knocked Mojito off the bed.

Klaus was staring at her when he asked, "Nightmare?"

"No, it was just weird," Caroline replied as she tried to mat down her hair, knowing it was an atrocious mess.

Mojito ran over to Klaus and jumped into his lap, crumpling the pages of his book. "Really, Mojito? Was that entirely necessary?" Klaus groaned.

Mojito just yipped. "Fine, breakfast. Come on. Caroline, the bathroom is through that door if you'd like to shower before breakfast."

"I think I will. I'll meet you in a little bit," Caroline said as she stumbled toward the bathroom.

She hurried under the water and as she combed through her hair, she thought about her dream. Was it some weird sign? Was she supposed to actually end up with Klaus? He wasn't supposed to be temporary? Well, since she was going to be stuck here a while, she figured that this couldn't have been temporary in any way. They didn't do very much earlier, so now it wasn't very awkward. At least until they actually came to the point where they had to talk about what happened. There was no way she was going to be the one to bring it up, so until he did, she could be all ignorance is bliss and not have to deal with it.

Stepping out of the shower, she hurried through her sleepy daze to get dressed. Walking into the kitchen, she found Klaus placing a coffee cup in front of Mojito.

"What are you doing?" she asked, convinced she was imagining things.

Klaus looked up at her with an expression of total shock; just like a little boy who got caught doing something he was sure was wrong. "This is how I got her to like me. She really loves coffee."

Caroline laughed, "For real?"

"Um, yes," Klaus replied, looking at his feet.

Caroline laughed as she walked over to him and kissed his cheek. "That is so adorable. Do you have breakfast food for us humans or did Mojito claim all of it already?"'

Klaus laughed and said, "No. We have everything under the sun. What would you like? Eggs, pancakes?"

"Oh, pancakes! Yes, yes!" Caroline said, clapping her hands.

Klaus got out the mix as Caroline picked up Mojito and started talking to her in a baby voice. "Who's cute? Who's cute? You are! Mojito is!"

Klaus smiled as he watched the pair and their obvious affection towards another. No longer paying attention to what he was doing, Klaus dropped in too much mix, excess powder exploding onto his face. Noticing the commotion, Caroline turned from Mojito and began laughing so hard she had to put the dog down.

Klaus grinned at her and asked, "You think this is funny?"

Choking through her laughter, she said, "Yes. Very."

That was the moment Klaus took a handful of mix and threw it in her face. The second it hit, Caroline's jaw dropped before she made a dive for the mix. Grabbing a handful, she retaliated. Soon the couple was throwing powder all over the kitchen, making a royal mess while they laughed and screamed. Mojito got hit a couple times, but focused on eating the powder instead of fighting in their war.

Once the mix had been all used up, the two slid down the side of the counter, laughing so hard that neither could breathe. Caroline laid her head on his shoulder as her breathing returned to normal.

"Well, I guess that shower was a little pointless," Caroline said, trying to brush the white powder from her hair.

"It would appear so. We also now have to bathe Mojito," Klaus said, motioning to the dog with her new spots of color.

"Shoot, she hates that," Caroline said, remembering the last time she attempted to wash the dog.

Mojito came and sat half on Caroline's lap and half on Klaus's lap.

"Wow, she really likes you doesn't she?" Caroline said as she pet her dog.

"She likes coffee and I control the coffee. It's not actually me," Klaus said as Mojito stared at him lovingly.

Kol walked into the kitchen and said, "Could you guys do your weird stuff somewhere else of more quietly? Some of us had to go abduct strange girls from their houses in an ungodly hour."

"Go away, Kol," Caroline ad Klaus said in tandem before laughing at the coincidence.

* * *

**AN: I'm putting forth a preemptive apology to you all because soccer season started this week so I'm crazy busy. I'm going to really try to update before next friday, but we'll just have to see. Thank you so much for reading and all of you that reviewed are beautiful, lovely people who are beyond amazing! **


	4. Chapter 4

Sitting across the table from Klaus, both of them still covered in flour, Caroline slowly cut into her pancakes and thought as she chewed.

No matter what way she looked at him, she couldn't figure out what shameful thing the Mikaelson's did for a living. Obviously it was incredibly profitable and illegal, for what other reason could she not know where the entrance is? It was also certain that Klaus was good at his job if they wanted him back badly enough to keep her here.

She decided to see if he would answer her now. "Nik, could you please tell me what you and your family do?"

He sighed. "Caroline, you're not going to like the answer."

"I know, but I can't handle not knowing anymore. It's like when you're in middle school and your friend tells you they like someone, but won't tell you who times a hundred. It's killing me," Caroline begged.

"Fine, I'll tell you. But first you have to promise that you will not run screaming because I would never hurt you. Ever. But I truly understand if your opinion of me is lowered," He said, staring straight into her eyes.

"I will not run screaming," Caroline said making an "x" with her finger over her heart.

"Okay. When my father and brother died, they left us with very little, financially speaking. My mother began dabbling in business ventures that were high yielding and could not be taxed. Now the rest of my family, excluding my brother, is involved in a myriad of dangerous and illegal affairs. Prostitutes, murdering, and most prominently, selling drugs. So with these business arrangements not being legal, we cannot file or report other companies that don't follow through with their part in the deal. My personal job is manipulating them to either do as they promised or to get valuable information from them," he said, waiting for her reaction.

Caroline was pretty calm, considering the circumstances. She asked, "And how do you manipulate them?"

Quietly, he replied, "Torture."

At this Caroline's eyes went wide and she became rigid in her seat. Noticing her fright, he said, "You can see why I didn't want any part in this business."

Caroline asked, "Why were the people chasing you the night we met?"

He sighed and said, "In a recent drug deal, my family was shorted a couple thousand dollars. To receive payment, Kol kidnapped the twelve year old daughter of the family in charge. I was supposed to torture her on film so they would be persuaded to pay us for her return. I couldn't do it. She was so young and tears were just streaming down her face and I couldn't hurt someone so innocent. She hadn't done anything wrong and didn't even know that her parents were involved in this business. I let her go. The others saw it as weakness and, by extension, saw my family as weak. I took the opportunity to run and my mother sent the men after me to show the rest of the world that I was being punished for my mistake and it wouldn't happen again."

"So she wants you to continue working?" Caroline asked, trying to appear detached even though she was crying on the inside.

Klaus shrugged. "It would appear so, but I doubt she trusts me enough yet to go back to my previous occupation. I'll probably be doing paperwork for a couple of months, which I prefer anyhow."

Caroline nodded, trying to sort through all of the new information. She joked, "If you ever want to change to a classier profession, the club has ladies night and I think I could get you a job stripping."

He laughed and replied, "I might just have to take you up on that."

Standing up, Klaus said, "Speaking of which, I do have some paperwork to do and it may take up much of the day, so please excuse me and make yourself at home."

Once Klaus left, Caroline wandered around the approved areas, finding herself in front of a set of large bookshelves with so many books that the place was practically a library. She scanned through the rows and found Pride and Prejudice, her favorite book. It was beautifully bound with think, soft paper that had the gold edges. She slid it off the shelf and almost fell with the weight of it. She settled into a huge, cushy chair and opened up to the first page. Caroline laughed to herself because the inner cover read "This is the property of Niklaus Mikaelson. Please refrain from further annotation."

Mojito curled herself around Caroline's feet. She read on, just expecting him to underline important phrases or analyze the book like in an English class. Caroline was shocked to find tons of beautiful comments on love and the pain of it being rejected. His poems lined the margins and after reading one, Caroline found her eyes filling with tears. It was a contender for the most eloquent and perfect thing she had ever read, rivaling the book itself.

She sat there for hours, devouring his work, when suddenly she was interrupted.

Rebekah awkwardly stood in the doorway and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm bored. Want to do something?"

Closing the book, Caroline replied, "Sure. What do you want to do?"

"Well, you can't leave the house, so it'll have to be something here. Let's go to the game room and see what could actually pass for fun," she said, grabbing Caroline's arm and pulling her after her.

Once they reached the room, Rebekah perused the shelves for five minutes until she exclaimed, "This one!"

Caroline asked, "What did you pick?"

"Just dance. It's the only video game I can ever win," Rebekah said, smiling.

"No way! Me too!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Well, I guess it's on then. I'm very competitive."

They danced their hearts out for over two hours, first keeping track of who won, but eventually just having fun. By the end, both girls were sweating like crazy and Caroline now felt that her pancakes this morning had been made up for.

As Caroline laughed at something Rebekah said, Klaus walked in. "Lovely to see you too getting along so well." His accent was becoming more prominent the more time he spent with his family.

For the past two hours, Caroline had basically forgotten about the things he had told her this morning, but seeing him in front of her brought her fears back. His strong arms were regularly used to inflict pain on others. The tiny scars on his knuckles were from abusing people. But then he smiled and the dimple on his cheek made all the bad things seem so much smaller, so inconsequential.

Rebekah replied to his comment, "She's not a bore, you have my permission to keep her."

He laughed and replied, "Your permission is not the one that matters."

Caroline smiled at this sentiment as Klaus turned his attention to her. "How was your day?"

Caroline replied, "Surprisingly good. I had a lot of fun playing this game with Rebekah and I also found your copy of Pride and Prejudice."

At this, Klaus's face morphed into one of shock and extreme embarrassment. His cheeks were flushed as he stammered, "That's… um… it's really just… it's a-"

Caroline held up her hand for him to stop. "It was beautiful, don't be embarrassed."

Rebekah just laughed and said, "You should really hide that thing, Nik," as she excused herself.

"Seriously, it brought me to tears. You are one of the best authors I've ever read. Have you written anything that's been published?" Caroline asked.

"No, it'd be far to dangerous for my family if I did. Also, I've never finished anything."

"Yes you have. Those poems in the book are finished," Caroline argued.

"No, they could be so much better. Especially if someone else wrote them."

Caroline walked over and held Klaus's chin so he was forced to look into her eyes. "You are a magnificent writer. If you change one word in any of those poems, you will see how I do torture."

Pulling herself back, she added, "And you can always get published under a fake name. I really think you should at least try."

"We'll see. Thank you," Klaus replied, not just meaning the publishing advice.

Understanding everything he was implying, Caroline replied with a smile, "You're welcome."

* * *

That night, Caroline was lying on the bed, unable to fall asleep. She just stared at the ceiling. Klaus was reading in the chair again, but his reading light was dim, so that wasn't the problem. Klaus himself may have been the problem, though. No matter how understanding she had been during the day about his job, the darkness breeds nightmares out of innocent things, so she was slightly terrified. Logically she knew he'd never hurt her, but her imagination was an illogical force.

Just looking at him, she could see he was relaxed and invested in his book, he wasn't focused on her. She could still feel a strange predatory sensation and it almost enveloped her. Caroline could feel adrenaline coursing through her veins and it took all of her willpower not to start doing jumping jacks just to expel her energy.

Klaus looked up from his book and said, "Oh, love, are you still awake? I thought you'd dosed off an hour or so ago. Is everything alright?"

Sitting up on the bed, Caroline hugged her knees to her chest and said, "Yeah, I was just running through the plans I'll have to cancel for this week and there's quite a lot of stuff to get through."

Even though she wouldn't say it, Klaus knew his presence now made her uncomfortable. He had even started rereading his book so that she wouldn't have to sleep in the same bed as him now that she knew. "I can go sleep in another room if that makes you more comfortable," he offered.

Caroline shook her head and said, "No, no. It's really fine. I just have to turn my brain off and stop all these random thoughts from rushing through my head."

Klaus knew the only reason she didn't ask him to leave was because she wanted him to think that his job didn't upset her and that she was tough enough to handle it. She didn't want to be rude, either. He slowly sat down and tried to put her at peace. "Well, don't wait up for me. This book is so good I might just stay up all night reading."

She visibly relaxed at this and even though that was what Klaus had intended, he was still upset that he was going to miss out on this beautiful and amazing girl just because he made the impetuous decision to join his family in this business. He should've just followed in Elijah's footsteps.

* * *

The floor creaked as Katherine and Elijah stumbled into her apartment after a long night out. As soon as the door shut behind them, Katherine was all over him, kissing down his neck as she hungrily unbuttoned his shirt and tried to slide it off his shoulders.

Elijah disentangled himself and said, "Wait. We should talk."

She took a step back and asked, "About what?"

"I think, since we're trying to have a real relationship, we should hold off on the sex for a little while."

"Real relationships have sex," Katherine pointed out.

"Yes, but generally not on the first date. Let's just hold off a little while, okay?"

Katherine groaned, "But we've already done it! Didn't we shoot the get-to-know-you-first horse in the face?"

Elijah laughed and replied, "I'm flattered at how much you want me, but I really believe what I'm saying."

Katherine rolled her eyes and asked, "Well, are you still going to stay over? Because if not, I already bought breakfast food and it'll all go to waste."

Elijah hugged her to his chest and put his chin on her head saying, "Of course I'll stay. You really bought breakfast?"

She nodded as she laughed, "If that's not proof that I like you, I don't know what is."

Elijah laughed in return and wondered how this beautiful girl was his.

* * *

Minutes after Caroline finally feel asleep, she was startled awake by footsteps in the hallway. Sitting straight up in bed, her eyes went straight to Klaus, who was asleep in the large chair. It was hard to imagine him hurting anybody when he looked so peaceful. She tiptoed out into the hallway to see what the noise was. As she walked out the door, a voice quietly slurred into her ear, "Boo."

She whirled around as she let out a yelp. Kol stood in front of her smirking as he almost toppled over. He asked, "Why would a pretty thing like you be in my house, but my brother's room?"

Before Caroline could respond, Klaus came out into the hallway, apparently awakened by her yelp. "Kol, stop it. Now," he said sternly.

Kol was quite drunk and asked, "Where did you find this girl? I want one too!"

Klaus turned his brother around and began pushing him down the hallway away from Caroline. "Find a girl for yourself, Kol."

He looked at Caroline and rolled his eyes before mouthing, "I'll be right back."

She nodded and smiled back to him before walking back into the room and hopping onto the bed. Caroline smiled down and raced a pattern on the comforter as she awaited his return. Klaus leaned in the doorway of his room, just watching her. Even in the middle of the night, with her puffy eyes and a sheet imprint across her face, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known. She looked up and smiled at him before saying, "Thanks. Your brother kind of freaked me out."

"Don't worry, he's really harmless. He just drinks a tad too much."

"Well, anyways, I appreciate it."

Klaus had begun to walk back to his chair, but Caroline interrupted him and said, "You could sleep in the bed if you want. That chair doesn't look entirely comfortable and you could more easily protect me from Kol if he comes back."

He knew she wasn't legitimately afraid of Kol and knew by default that she wasn't scared of him anymore. Well, he was sure a part of her was freaking out a bit, but her overall knowledge told her that he wouldn't hurt her. He smiled and said, "Well, if you need me to protect you, what kind of man would I be if I refused a damsel in distress?"

Caroline giggled and patted the spot next to her on the bed, inviting him to slide under the covers. He did so and she proceeded to curl up against his chest as he circled his arms around her.

"Feel protected now?" he asked.

"Very much so," she replied through a yawn.

Klaus whispered, "Good," as he brushed his fingers through her hair and watched her quietly drift off to sleep. He wasn't quite ready for sleep himself yet and kept himself up with thoughts of the girl in his arms. Her perfect skin lightly rested on his chest and he couldn't remember a time where he felt more at peace. She was so accepting of him and his lifestyle. She understood that he didn't want to continue this job, but that he might be forced to. And she got along with his mom. That was pretty much unprecedented. No one was good enough for any of her children so far, but then came Caroline and his mother, in her own way, basically melted at her feet. He was so impressed with everything about her. He slipped into sleep with visions of them spinning and twirling in absolute bliss.

* * *

Stefan twisted the key in the lock to his and Elena's apartment, so excited to surprise her with his early return from his business trip. He had a ring in his pocket and his hands were shaking with nervousness. Stefan quietly walked into the apartment, not wanting to wake her too soon. He wanted to light a couple candles and set a romantic mood in case she was disinclined to accept his proposal. The good candles were in his desk in their room, so he sneaked in as softly as possible. He slid open the drawer and there was a slight _ting._ Stefan jumped up and looked to the bed as Elena made a noise in her sleep and rolled over. In doing so, she exposed that she was not alone.

An obviously naked man was holding Elena like she was a life raft in the middle of the ocean. Stefan gasped and quickly backed out of the room. He ran down the hallway and through the apartment door, panting with shock. He was so confused; the pair had always seemed to despise each other! Then he worried and wondered how long this had been going on.

Stefan now had nowhere to sleep, not wanting to deal with this right now. He hurried to Caroline's apartment because she was the only person in this city who apparently wasn't lying to him. Once he reached her door, he pounded a couple of times before yelling, "Caroline, open up. It's Stefan. I have a bit of a situation and I have nowhere to go."

He stood in silence for a few minutes before noticing that Mojito hadn't made any sounds. This was particularly strange because Caroline never took Mojito out at night. She was too afraid of her getting loose and getting lost in a darkened alley. He knew that something must be wrong, so he called her.

Caroline awoke to her cell phone vibrating under her pillow and groggily, but quietly, answered it saying, "This better be really fucking important for you to call me at this hour."

"Caroline, it's me, Stefan. I'm at your apartment. Where are you and Mojito? I have kind of a major problem I need to talk to you about."

"We're kind of on vacation. If anyone from work asks, I'm sick. What's up?"

"Well, I'm home early from my business trip. I have the ring and I was all ready to propose, but I walked into our room and Elena wasn't alone."

"Did Katherine pass out drunk again? I swear that girl needs to get that problem a little more under control," Caroline sighed.

"No, it wasn't Katherine. It was Damon."

* * *

**Sorry about the delayed update, a mixture of chemistry and evil mothers resulted in the confiscation of my laptop :/ I love all of you who have reviewed, it makes me so happy! You are fantastically beautiful people :)**


	5. Chapter 5

"Shit!" Caroline swore, sitting up abruptly. Her sudden movement woke Klaus and he blinked through a daze while sitting up.

Caroline brushed the hair out of her face with her fingers as she asked, "And you're sure that he didn't just come over to fix something or get a rat out? I mean, he could've been like, super tired and just fall asleep..?"

"No, Caroline, I'm absolutely positive. There was no explanation necessary."

"I am so sorry, Stefan. There isn't a person in this world that deserves this less than you."

At this point, Klaus's brow was furrowed in confusion as he looked at Caroline.

"Thanks, Care. I'm mostly just exhausted and need to sleep. Mind if I crash at your place?" Stefan asked, trying to sound unruffled and cavalier, but Caroline knew he was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Of course. You know that you're always welcome at my apartment, but the problem is that I lost my spare key a couple weeks ago. There's no way for you to get in. Hold on, I have a kind of strange idea." Caroline said.

She turned to Klaus as she covered the phone and said, "I have a really big favor to ask. My friend's almost fiancée just cheated on him with his brother, so he can't stay at his place. I'm his only friend in the city besides the two people in his bed and I'm not at home, so he has nowhere to stay. Would it be possible for him to stay here?"

"Um, well, Caroline, I don't know if that's such a good idea…" As Klaus spoke, Caroline lightly traced a twisting and curling design up his arm and across his chest, flattening her hand over his heart. She moved closer and whispered, "Please? For me?"

Her lips softly pressed against his collar bone and began slowly moving up his neck until a sigh shuddered from his mouth and he gave in, saying, "Yes, of course. Any friend of yours should be a lovely house guest. He may stay as long as he wishes."

Caroline quickly kissed his cheek and said, "Thank you so much! I totally owe you one," before turning back to her phone. "Stefan, you can stay here if you don't have anywhere to be for a few days. My friend will come to get you soon," she raised her eyebrows to Klaus and nodded her head toward the doorway.

He nodded and quickly threw on a shirt, then swiftly walked out the door.

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit Stef." Caroline said and the instant she closed her phone, Klaus was back.

Their faces were only inches apart when he said, "This is a special circumstance. Do not assume that I am always so easily persuaded, though I'm beginning to realize that I would do anything to please you." Her heart pattered in her chest as he closed the small space between them. His lips hungrily caught hers and Caroline responded instantaneously. In that moment, she didn't think of the reasons that this could never work and the sliver of fear that remained in her heart disappeared forever. All she could think of was him: the way his accent curled his words, how he smelled like mint and grass, and the conflict of feeling totally safe and in heart-pumping danger whenever she was around him.

Suddenly he was gone, disappeared before she even opened her eyes. Caroline sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed, thinking to herself _what have I gotten myself into…_

* * *

Klaus hurried up the steps to Caroline's apartment. He slowed down, spotting the man sitting on the floor, leaning against the door, and flipping a ring box open and shut.

Klaus extended his hand and said, "Stefan, I presume?"

Stefan nodded and grabbed his hand for a bit of assistance getting up.

"I'm Klaus. Sorry to hear about your relationship, mate. I didn't get the full story, but the bits I got sounded less than perfectly peachy."

Stefan shrugged and shuffled along after Klaus, still flipping the ring box's lid.

Trying to fill the awkward silence, Klaus said, "So, we've got a weird situation with my home, so I hope you don't have anywhere you need to be for at least a few days."

Stefan just shook his head and continued to stare at the ring.

"Mate, you've got to stop staring at that ring and actually talk. We've got a bit of a walk and I, for one, am not a fan of prolonged silences," Klaus said, slightly exasperated.

"Sorry. I'm not in much of a chatty mood," Stefan said, finally putting the box deep into his pocket.

"Maybe making idle conversation will help you forget about her," Klaus suggested.

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?" Stefan sighed.

"Well, we both know Caroline and she's a lovely girl, let's talk about her. How did you two meet?" Klaus asked, dying to know that he wasn't inviting competition into his home.

"They work together."

Klaus cringed, knowing he had stumbled into uncharted territory deep within the avoid-this-topic jungle. He tried to quickly maneuver out of it by asking, "How about work? What do you do?"

"Well, I'm an executive consultant for a company that sells microscope slides. I travel to Europe a lot to ensure customer satisfaction and whatnot."

"Do you like all that travel?"

"I did until it created the opportunity for my girlfriend to cheat on me."

"Okay, maybe it is better if we don't talk," Klaus relented.

* * *

Elena awoke to find Damon staring at her and twisting a strand of her hair around his finger.

"Good morning," he said warmly as she opened her eyes.

Elena sighed. "Damon, you know you're not supposed to still be here," she said as she stood up, taking the sheets with her.

"I'm sorry, I just fell asleep. It's really not a big deal."

"No, Damon, it is a big deal. We agreed that this wouldn't happen. Totally casual, remember?"

He grumbled under his breath, "Not by my choice."

"And what would've happened if Stefan got home early from his business trip and walked in?"

Damon, getting angry, replied, "Well, Elena, then he would've found out. And then maybe you would have at least one honest relationship!"

"That's really unfair, Damon."

"No, Elena, you know what's unfair? This relationship. You're use me when Stefan's not around just because you're lonely, not because you actually care about me. I've been going along with this because I have been in love with you for as long as I can remember. But this isn't okay anymore. I'm done."

He stormed out of the apartment, not even bothering to button his jeans or throw on a shirt before leaving. Elena sighed and brought both hands to the side of her head. She didn't understand how things had gotten so out of control. For so long, she was completely in love with Stefan. Everything he did was cute and romantic. He would send her flowers at work and make her dinner when she was having a bad day. There was never anything important to fight about, so they rarely did. They had similar tastes in music and books; enough to know what the other liked and what to recommend, but not so much that they had nothing to discuss after they tried the recommendations. He had a stable job, could support her financially, and loved her desperately. Her parents approved, they could get married with no issues, and she could live the whole happily ever after life.

Somewhere along the way though, she stopped being so sure of what she wanted. She began to think that maybe the conventional path would make her unhappy. Maybe it wouldn't be enough.

Damon was an interesting and unexpected distraction at first. She was oftenusually lonely when Stefan was away on business and Damon would always be there for her. He would come over in the middle of the night if she thought she heard something, even though there was never anything there. She had always known how he felt about her and she kind of exploited that. Eventually everything just exploded out of control.

In the midst of looking for her clothes, Elena noticed that a drawer in her desk was open. It was strange; the only time she ever went into the drawer was for special occasions because it was where she kept the good candles.

Immediately it hit her. She gasped and dove for her phone, praying for a voicemail. The automated voice confirmed her assumption. No new voicemails. Stefan knew.

* * *

Klaus opened the door and instantly saw Caroline jogging toward him. He opened his arms, expecting her to hug him or kiss him or thank him, but she ran right past him. She jumped into Stefan's arms, hugging him tightly. Klaus's arms fell as she began asking Stefan if he was okay.

"I guess I'll let you two talk," Klaus said quietly.

"Thanks, Klaus," Caroline replied quickly over her shoulder.

Klaus sighed as he walked down the hallway, too tired to actually make sense of the conflicting signals Caroline kept giving him. He decided it was a puzzle for another day and knocked on his mother's office door. She worked at night because she believed that's when she thought most clearly.

He heard a muffled, "Come in" through the door, so he turned the knob and entered.

"Good morning, honey. Why are you up so early?" Esther asked, not even looking up from the papers that covered her desk.

"Mother, I think we have a bit of a situation. Caroline's friend had a bit of an emergency and I said he could stay here before I really thought about it."

"I don't see why that's a problem unless he's a spy or has a reason to leave. We were changing the entrance anyway."

"So everything's okay then?"

Esther looked up over the top of her glasses and nonchalantly said, "Of course. The only problem would be if you feel this 'friend's' presence is threatening your relationship with Caroline. If that's the case, I'm sure I could find a way to remove him."

"No, no. He seems to be a good friend of Caroline's; she wouldn't forgive me if something happened to him. Also, it looks like he's completely heartbroken, so he's not entirely a threat."

"Whatever you think, son. I trust your judgment. Just don't underestimate people."

"Never, mother. I'll see you in a few hours," Klaus said, quietly exiting.

He slowly walked back to his room and stopped outside, listening for noises. He couldn't hear anything, so he eased open the door. Caroline was sitting on the floor leaning against the foot of the bed. Noticing the light streaming in, she turned to Klaus and put her finger to lips, pointing with the other hand to the large bump under the comforter. Klaus nodded, understanding that Stefan had fallen asleep. He gestured for her to come out into the hallway. His talk with his mother had rejuvenated him and restored his confidence in himself. Klaus knew that if he could just establish what was happening between them, his mind could be put to rest.

Caroline pushed herself up off the ground and brushed past Klaus into the hallway. The slight touch of their hands sent the butterflies in her stomach into flight.

Klaus turned to her and quietly said, "So I think we need to talk."

Caroline looked at her feet and mumbled, "It's possible."

"Well, I believe I've made my affections clear and if I haven't, then surely my mother has by keeping you here. I'd like to be with you, but if there is no chance of you ever feeling the same way for me, I need you to tell me now. I would rather start avoiding you now and evade heartbreak than be devastated later because you wanted to spare my feelings. Caroline, you are a girl I can see myself truly falling for, but I don't want to fall if I'm just going to break," Klaus said, breathing hard.

Caroline stepped forward and grabbed his hands. "I'm beginning to have feelings for you too. But I'm not a perfect person. I have so many faults and I can't guarantee that we'll both come out of this free of injury. But if you want to try, I want to try."

At that, Klaus smiled and slid his hands up her arms, over her shoulders, and threaded his fingers into her hair. He slowly inched toward her and they brushed noses. She pressed her forehead against his and stared into his smiling eyes for a moment before closing hers and slowly kissing him. She softly pressed her lips against him, once, twice, three times, before she pulled back.

Klaus raised his eyebrows, confused. "Changed your mind so quickly?"

"No, it's just _really _late. Even for me. I'm so burnt out right now, I need sleep," Caroline said, her voice a mixture of remorse and longing.

"Fine, but we've got to sleep in different beds because I just will not be able to control myself if you're within arm's reach," Klaus said, doing his adorable half-grin.

Caroline giggled as he quickly kissed her forehead.

"I'll go in that room there," Klaus said, pointing toward one of the many assorted guest rooms that lined the hallway. "Feel free to sleep wherever you please. And don't be afraid to join me if something goes bump in the night." He winked. "Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight," Caroline said with a sheepishly kicking the ground.

Caroline fell asleep the instant her head hit the arm of the couch and she slept with a smile for the rest of the night.

* * *

Rebekah tiptoed down the hall, hoping that no one would be awake to notice her walk of shame. It really was a shame because she had just gotten super drunk and passed out at the bar, there wasn't even anything fun involved. The bartender wasn't even cute, even with the vodka equivalent of beer goggles.

She rolled her eyes, silently praying for better men to start wandering the streets of New York.

When she walked by and saw Caroline asleep on the couch, she stopped in her tracks. Jarred into action, Rebekah hurried into Klaus's room and jumped onto her brother, trying to wake him up. "Nik, why is Caroline on the couch? What have you done now? Come on, Nik, wake up!"

The man Rebekah was sitting on suddenly turned over and opened his eyes, confusion clouding his gaze. "Who are you?" he asked.

"You're not Nik."

"No, my name's Stefan."

"Okay, Stefan, why are you here?"

"Well, I'd be more inclined to answer that if you weren't sitting on me or would tell me who you are," he huffed.

"Oh, but then I lose all the advantage," Rebekah pouted.

After a beat, she sighed, "Fine" before rolling off him. "I'm Rebekah. This is my house."

Immediately she was happy with her decision. Stefan sat up in bed, revealing his perfectly sculpted torso.

After clearing her throat, Rebekah prompted him. "So? Explain your presence."

"I'm friends with Caroline. I kind of got in a tough spot tonight, so she said I could stay here for a bit," Stefan explained.

"Oh, okay. So you've been filled in on everything, right?"

"I'm not sure. What's there to be filled in on?"' Stefan asked, still a little foggy on the discussions of earlier due to a mixture of shock and exhaustion.

"Well, for one you're kind of on lockdown while you're here. You can't leave at all. For two, don't ask many questions and three, don't go anywhere you're not invited into, kay?"

"Okay, but why exactly am I stuck here?" Stefan asked.

"Not many questions, remember? Just pretend you're in witness protection program! No one will hurt you unless you do something you shouldn't. So just tread lightly."

"Gotcha. What am I supposed to do while I'm here?"

"Well, I prefer drinking, but considering that most people don't drink before seven a.m., we have alternatives."

"I'll stop you there. Drinking sounds like exactly what this week has called for."

"Good, we're on the same page. Follow me," Rebekah said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room.

* * *

Elijah woke up to his cell phone ringing. He answered it quickly and immediately focused, assuming it was the hospital with an emergency. Strangely, it wasn't.

"Hello brother."

"I thought I told you not to call me," Elijah said harshly, but quietly, hoping not to wake Katherine, who was still curled around his other arm.

"Yes, but I have imperative news. They know about the girl lying in bed next to you and they're willing to use her to get to you. They know where you are, where you work, and where she works."

"Why are you telling me this, Niklaus?"

"To warn you, of course. They've brought me back in because of a girl and I don't want the same thing to happen for you," Klaus said urgently.

"Well what do you suggest I do then?" Elijah said, still frustrated.

"Come talk to mother. Reason with her. Or take your girl and make a run for it. Whichever you chose, you need to actually _do_ something, otherwise you're playing right into their hands."

"Okay, fine I'll stop by. How do I get in now days?" Elijah relented.

"I'll text you the instructions. Glad I'll be seeing you soon, brother."

"Not so glad on this end." Elijah said, hanging up quickly.

Klaus chuckled as her hung up his phone. It went much better than he expected. Everything today was going much better than expected. The perfect example of that was the fact that he was sitting on a chair next to Caroline, smiling as she mumbled his name in her sleep.

* * *

**Hey everybody, sorry I took a while to update, but I still haven't figured out how to get around that whole school thing yet. I hope you like the chapter and I hope you feel the need to review. I love it; it makes me feel like people are actually reading this hahaha. I hope all of your holidays were wonderful!**


	6. Chapter 6

Elijah trotted down the steps, exuding far more happiness than he actually felt. In all actuality, he was dreading this encounter. He hadn't spoken to his family since before med school.

Sighing, he keyed in the never-ending code on the stiff keys and strolled into the house. It still smelled the same, a faint mixture of lemons and Esther's Chanel Number Five.

"Well, I'm here brother. Come out and talk."

"Good morning, Elijah," Klaus said as he sauntered in.

"Aren't we past pleasantries, Niklaus? Explain why you've brought me here."

"We haven't seen each other in ages. I mean, I know what you've been up to since you left, but aren't you curious to hear about me and my life? It can be quite entertaining at times," Klaus said as he sat in a large chair. "Come and sit down, brother. We've got plenty of time to talk."

"No, I don't, Niklaus. I have to get to work. Just tell me whatever you wanted to tell me promptly so I can leave."

"Well, I have a proposition for you brother. It'll get us both out of a sticky situation, but it'll take some time to discuss. So if you simply must get to work, we can discuss it later," Klaus said as he pushed himself out of his chair and turned toward the door.

"Wait. What's your plan?" Elijah said, betraying his true fear.

Klaus turned back to him. "If you're interested, I'll send the plan with a messenger to you today. Too many ears around here." He raised his eyebrows quickly before sauntering out of the room.

Elijah rolled his eyes before walking back out the door. Klaus always had to have the upper hand.

* * *

Klaus sat down at his desk and uncovered his typewriter. He had always been a typewriter person. The immediate gratification of seeing his words hit onto the page was so much more satisfying than the blinking cursor of a computer that is just screaming at you when you have writer's block. He began to type out his escape plan when he realized that he should probably talk to Caroline about it first.

Klaus walked back to the living room where Caroline was still asleep on the couch. The blonde strands of her hair framed her flawless face and the small opening between her lips let out her deep breaths. As he moved to sit across from her, she shifted, like she had sensed his presence. Her eyelids rapidly blinked and she slowly sat up.

"Hey," she said as she pushed her arms toward the ceiling and circled them back to her sides.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

She smiled and ran her fingers through her hair before asking, "What time is it? I feel like I've been asleep forever."

"It's only eight. You haven't been asleep very long at all. But I need to talk to you about something," he said as he sat down on the edge of the coffee table.

"Okay, go for it," she replied, suddenly more alert.

"Well, remember the brother I told you about that doesn't talk to the family anymore? He's actually dating someone you work with now and mother's trying to bring him in again. She's going to use the girl to get to him, kind of like what she's doing to me." At that, a small smile broke through. "I guess she can see how much I care about you."

Caroline returned his smile before he continued. "I've sort of come up with a plan to get the four of us out of this situation. We would have to leave the country for a few months, but it could actually be kind of fun. An adventure, if you'd like."

"But what about Stefan? He needs me right now, I can't just leave him here." Caroline asked, incredibly concerned.

"He can come as well, if he'd like. Hell, I'm sure we could even convince Rebekah to come since she's taken such a liking to him and she's not actually involved in the business anyway. Mother doesn't want to put her baby girl at risk. But anyways, would you be okay with living elsewhere for a little while?"

"Well, that depends. Where would we go?"

Klaus smiled. "Paris, Rome, Tokyo… wherever you want."

"Oh, really?" Caroline smiled. "Wherever I want? Hmm…" She slid onto his lap and crossed her wrists behind his neck. "Well I do like being in charge."

Klaus replied, "So do I." He stood, holding her up by her ass. Caroline giggled as Klaus carried her across the room, kissing up her neck. They hit a door, which Klaus fumbled in his hurry to open, and then he headed straight for the bed. They fell onto the bed, lips locked.

"What is with this house? Does everyone wake you up by jumping on you?" Stefan yelled, still half asleep.

Klaus groaned as he rolled off of Caroline. "You have got to be kidding me!"

* * *

Elijah had just walked out of surgery when some teenage boy approached him and handed him a large envelope.

"What's this?"

"It's from your brother," the kid mumbled before turning away and hurrying down the hallway.

He slowly slid the papers out and found Klaus's crazy-detailed plan for their "escape." The time table had already been set and he was supposed to be ready by seven. He quickly dialed Katherine's number and left a quick voicemail. "Hello, darling. We're going on a trip tonight, so pack your bags and call in sick to work. It's gonna be a ton of fun and I'll explain it all later. Bye."

He pressed "end" and then groaned. Why was he the only rational member of his family? Everyone else was so volatile and quick to action. They never were okay with just talking through a problem, they had to throw things and scream at each other. He knew those things had their place, but when they happen every other day, they begin to lose their impact.

After such an intense surgery, Elijah was allowed to go home and recuperate. He hurried back and began frantically throwing everything that was important into a bag.

* * *

Katherine found her cell phone annoyingly beeping with a new voicemail. She listened to Elijah's quick words and when he was done, she pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it, open-mouthed. She replayed the message to be sure about what he was saying.

Why would they be taking a random trip? Why didn't he even ask her if she wanted to go? Did he just decide out of nowhere that they were going? They'd only been together a few days, wasn't this too soon?

Katherine was freaking out. She even started jumping to crazy theories, like that he was a Russian spy bringing her to his homeland or that he was part of some Mexican drug transport team and now had to flee the country.

She called work and told them she had a family emergency and wasn't sure how long she'd be gone. They were pretty cool about it, mostly because they had a ton of girls who'd take her place at the drop of a hat.

That's when she began wondering where they were going. For all she knew, he meant that they were going to Jersey for the night to a B&B. That's kind of nice and romantic. She hated Jersey, but the effort was appreciated. Then again, they could be going across the world, like to Venice or London. Oh, she would absolutely die! She'd never left the continent, but she loved the ideas of all those foreign places. People you don't know, places you don't recognize, beautiful art, and the freedom of something new.

But at the same time, she hadn't been with Elijah very long. What if he was just taking her to some weird country to murder her and hide the body? Or was he whisking her away to propose elopement? He was quite the romantic, so she wouldn't put it past him.

This added the problem of what to pack. Did she pack for warm weather or for cold? Would she need a bathing suit? Would she need formal wear or anything like that? How much did she need to pack? Would they be gone for the weekend or for an extended period of time?

Katherine just flopped on to her bed and sighed. There were too many questions, so she was going to take a nap and let Elijah do everything. Minutes later, her breathing slowed and she was sound asleep.

* * *

Caroline slowly knocked on Stefan's door and peeked inside. "Hey. Can I talk to you?"

Stefan was in bed, just staring at the ceiling. "Sure. What do you wanna talk about," he said, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Well, Klaus is kind of in a bad situation with most of his family and their business practices, so he wants to leave. He's taking me out of the country along with a couple of other people and I was wondering if you wanted to come," Caroline said hastily.

"Where would we be going?" Stefan asked, still in the same position he was in when Caroline came in.

"I'm not quite sure, but knowing Nik, it's sure to be absolutely extravagant. And we'll surely see some amazing art and architecture. So… do you want to come with us?" Caroline bounced a little on the edge of the bed, hoping to shake Stefan out of his stupor.

"Sure, why not. Maybe it'll make me forget about her."

"Maybe it will," Caroline nodded. "I'll go tell Klaus that you're in. Yay!" She did a few quick claps as she left the room.

She skipped down the hall and peered through his doorway. "Stefan's in. What did Rebekah say?"

"I haven't asked her yet. The less time she knows about it, the better. We're going to leave tonight, so make sure that you're packed and everything sweetheart."

"Okay, I'll be ready soon." She blew him a kiss before walking back out the door.

She was hiding it well, but Caroline was a bit nervous about their impending trip. What would happen if he got bored with her? Would he just send her back to the city and be done with her? She simply resolved that she wouldn't let him become bored with her.

* * *

An hour later, the six of them were in a limo on their way to the airport. Esther had been out on business and wouldn't discover their absence for hours, at which time they'd be a couple thousand miles in the air.

With cash and fake passports, they wouldn't be tracked and, truthfully, Esther had bigger problems to worry about than her children.

Rebekah was easily persuaded to accompany them; she loved travelling and didn't much care for the business.

Katherine was mostly confused about the whole thing, but she was definitely not going to pass up a free vacation.

When they finally arrived at the airport, they rushed through VIP entrances and bypassed lines. They boarded a flight to Paris and had the entirety of first class all to themselves. The relief of sinking into those huge seats was incredible. Every one of them suddenly felt safe, even Caroline who was usually afraid of flying. It was marvelous.

The plane took off as she snuggled under Klaus's arm, exhausted from the day. Katherine, Rebekah, and Stefan had already passed out and Elijah was trying desperately to keep his eyes open, but beginning to fail.

Klaus whispered to Caroline, his lips brushing against her forehead. "Are you excited, love?"

"Yes, I just wished it was under better circumstances," Caroline sighed, turning her face toward his.

"Ah, sweetheart, trust me. Once we get there, you'll forget about everything at home." He kissed her quickly. "Just sleep and the flight will fly by."

"Mmk. Goodnight," Caroline mumbled as her eyelids fell and she drifted to sleep.

Klaus softly smiled as everyone around him looked at ease in their sleep; it was a relief. He hoped that this trip would work and no one would get hurt from this endeavor. Klaus stayed awake for the rest of the flight, feeling responsible for every bump along the way.

* * *

**Sorry it took my so long to update and that the chapter isn't very long. I should really work on that, huh? Well, anyways, if you like klaroline (I mean I guess you should if you're reading this), sherlock, and doctor who come follow be at ihidemycrazy. If you're part of my fandoms, i'll follow back :) Thanks for putting up with me and my lame updates, i really appreciate the support i get from you guys 3.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow, I'm sure you're all thinking "Ohmygod, she actaully updated" It's only been, i don't know, four months? Shoot. Sorry y'all. But school's out now and I suddenly have a lot more free time. Maybe i'll use it to write more. Maybe. Anyways, read on.**

* * *

Caroline awoke as the plane shook slightly when it made contact with the ground. She blinked rapidly, momentarily forgetting where she was. She looked up and made eye contact with Klaus. He stared down at her softly, waiting for her to break out of her morning confusion.

"Morning," she smiled up at him.

He kissed her forehead before replying, "Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Not bad. What about you?"

"Oh, I didn't sleep. Just a little too much anxiety," he said as he looked out the window, watching them taxi off the runway.

Caroline frowned up at him. "Don't worry. Everything will be okay."

"Of course it will. Did you know that you talk in your sleep?" He quickly shifted subjects.

Caroline gasped and quickly brought her palm up to cover her mouth. "Oh no. What did I say?"

Klaus laughed. "Nothing horribly embarrassing, dear. Although you might be happy that I was the only one awake to hear your murmurings. I'm sure my brothers would have been fairly uncomfortable with the way you talk about me." He winked at her.

Caroline blushed heavily and hid her face behind her hands, all the while giggling in her embarrassment.

The plane finally slowed to a stop and they all were up and at the door before the fasten seatbelt sign had even turned off. They hurried off the plane and quickly into one of those minivan cabs that drove them the short distance to their hotel.

It was so early in the morning that the sky was still dark and the city was probably as quiet as it ever gets. Caroline leaned against Klaus and traced patterns on his palm in favor of looking out the window.

Once they reached the hotel, things slowed down to a more comfortable pace. Klaus held Caroline's hand as they walked through the lobby, in part because she was getting distracted by the grandeur of the ceiling and chandeliers and he worried that she'd run into someone, but also because her physical presence was reassurance in his dramatic actions. She was worth this.

Elijah handled the front desk, getting each pair their own room with connecting balconies.

Klaus pulled Caroline out of the lobby and into the elevator, where her attention turned to the walls of rose gold tinted mirrors. She squeezed Klaus's hand as she jumped up and down. He marveled at her energy.

When they finally reached their room, Caroline lost any semblance of propriety that she once held. She ran and jumped onto the gigantic bed , being almost immediately engulfed by the excessive pillows. She laughed and the light cadence of her giggles warmed up the room until Klaus was laughing with her, his deep chuckles contrasting to make a lovely harmony.

He walked over to the bed where she pulled him down on top of her. Well, he let her pull him down.

"Thank you so much," she said before kissing him full on the mouth. He savored it as a sign of their safety.

"Do you want to try to sleep now?" she asked, eyes big with concern.

"If I sleep now, I'll be useless sightseeing later today."

"But you'll also be useless if you don't sleep," she responded.

"Would it be okay if we took the day off?" he asked, desperately concerned for her happiness.

"Definitely. Sleep well," she said as she moved to get off the bed.

He lightly grabbed her arm. "No, no. I am not sleeping unless you are in this bed," he said before pulling her down on top of him, mimicking what she had done to him only moments before.

She giggled and said, "Okay," before curling into his side and watching his eyes fall slowly closed and his breathing became deeper. Soon, with her movement limited and nothing to entertain her besides watching Klaus breathe (which she deemed a little too creepy for comfort), she fell asleep as well.

* * *

Rebekah and Stefan's room had two large beds because Elijah was unsure of where their relationship stood and figured he was better safe than sorry. They each sat on their respective beds, legs crossed, looking anywhere but at each other.

Finally, unable to take the silence, Rebekah said, "So, what do you want to see while we're here?"

Stefan laughed and replied, "You'd think that with how many times I've been here, I would have seen all the sights and even have a favorite restaurant with crepes. But no. So I suppose I want to see everything worth seeing."

Rebekah smiled sadly at him, finding the fractures within him fascinating. But that's how Rebekah was: everyone can be fixed if you try hard enough.

"Well, let's go then," she said before hopping up and dragging him out of the hotel room.

They quickly exited the hotel and reached the street. The sun was quietly rising and sending a golden glow over everything. _If you're going to see Paris, this is the way to do it. _Rebekah thought to herself and smiled.

Luckily, it wasn't tourist season, so they didn't have drivers driving on the wrong side of the road or thousands of groups asking for pictures. Rebekah was relieved, whereas Stefan didn't know the difference. His business travels kept him inside for the majority of his trip. His company was paying him to work, not take a vacation.

They passed by the Eiffel Tower and Stefan paused to stare at it.

"Isn't it lovely?" Rebekah asked him when it appeared he wanted to stay and figure out how to build his own.

"I just thought it would be… bigger," he mumbled.

Rebekah laughed and the twinkling sound brought Stefan out of his reverie.

"You're really pretty when you do that."

"Laugh? Oh, no, my face gets all crinkled up and makes it look as if I have crow's feet extending from the corners of my eyes," Rebekah said, shocked at his compliment.

"Nevertheless, you look pretty. Like you're letting go of your control for a second and I actually get to see you," Stefan smiled softly.

She smiled back at Stefan before turning and rolling her eyes. She wasn't one for compliments or too much outward signs of affection. It was how she was raised. They all just sound so cheesy and rehearsed to her, like these men have watched too many poorly written romantic comedies and assume that every girl wants that. News flash: they don't.

That was when she realized she probably should have gotten to know Stefan a little more before she agreed to partner up with him on this trip.

* * *

Elijah was in bed while Katherine paced around their hotel room. He watched her as she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle it as she searched for all her articles of clothing.

"You know, you really don't have to put your clothes back on," Elijah said as she threw her shirt over her head.

"Yes I do! We share a balcony with your siblings What if one of them forgot their phone charger or wanted to go out and they stumble upon us in bed!"

"Oh, the horror! Two grown adults sleeping together. They've probably never heard of such a thing!"

"Were you just being sarcastic? I don't think I've ever heard you be sarcastic. When did you get that comfortable?"

He reached out and grabbed her waist to pull her back onto the bed. "I think with how loud you were screaming my name not so long ago, I can be a little confident that you're not going to run out on me anytime soon."

She rolled her eyes at the screaming comment. If all it took to get this man out of his funk was good sex, then her life would be pretty easy.

He interrupted her thought though by saying, "But these clothes are not allowed. If you _must _be clothed, wear my shirt. It's a nice little reminder that you're mine."

"Oh, I'm yours, am I?" she joked.

With that, he quickly turned so that he was above her. He slowly kissed from her jaw line, down her neck, and into her cleavage. Suddenly, her shirt was gone and he was kissing down her stomach. She gripped the sheets tight as he got closer and closer to the waistband of her pants. Just when she thought she'd explode if he didn't hurry up, he stopped.

She whimpered, desperately wanting him to continue.

"So who do you belong to?"

" You. You. You. I belong to you," she said before she sat up and locked him in a kiss. She pulled him down on top of her, where he quickly broke the kiss to say, "That's all I wanted to hear."

* * *

Caroline and Klaus awoke to a knock on the glass door of their balcony. Caroline groaned and rolled out of bed to let Rebekah in. The entire day had passed and now the sun was setting as the lights of the city were beginning to flicker on.

"Hi Caroline. Can I talk to you for a bit?" Rebekah asked.

"Sure. Come on in," Caroline said as she stepped aside to let her in.

"Rebekah. What is so important that you had to disturb my sleep?" Klaus moaned into his pillow.

"You've been asleep all day. You're going to miss out on Paris if you never leave this room."

"Go away. I was having a very pleasant day until you walked in."

Rebekah just rolled her eyes and turned to Caroline. "I'm concerned about Stefan."

Caroline sat up straight, now wide awake. "Why? Did he say something? He's not still completely depressed right? This trip was supposed to cheer him up!"

"No, no. I don't think he's still totally depressed. I just think that I will be unable to make him happy again."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked with her eyebrows drawn together.

"I think the idea of us as a couple is always just going to remind him of Elena. And I think we're ill-suited for one another anyway. I am extremely experienced in the field of fixing broken-hearted men and Stefan is far too gone to be considering any non-friend relationships at the time. He needs a friend to take care of him and since you're spending time with my brother, that duty falls to me. So tell me what I should do."

"Well, he loves food. It tends to brighten him up. He also likes exercising for some reason. Take him to the hotel gym or something. Swimming! Oh yes, he adores swimming. He didn't have a pool as a little kid so he never got sick of swimming. Take him swimming whenever you see a pool. He also loves movies, even rom coms, so when there's nothing to do, just order one off the tv. Just no Nicholas Sparks. Those movies just make him worse," Caroline said, trying to think of anything else that would make him feel better.

"Thanks. That should be good for a while. Just don't disappear off the face of the earth. He knows you best, you can't just leave him."

Caroline nodded, momentarily ashamed of her ignorance to her best friend's despair. Rebekah let herself out and returned to her room to find Stefan completely passed out on his bed.

Caroline crawled back into bed and Klaus turned on his side so he was facing her. "Do you want to get something to eat?" she asked.

"Like call room service? Sure, just let me get a menu."

"No, like actually go out."

"Caroline, I'm not sure anything will be open. It's rather late."

"That'll be half the fun!"

Klaus chuckled at her optimism. "Okay. It will be an adventure. Let's go."

She laughed as they raced out of the room and down the stairs. They were both still in their pajamas and everyone gave them strange looks when they ran through the lobby, but they didn't notice. Once they had gotten a little further than a block away, Caroline had to slow down. The mixture of laughing and running had resulted in a lack of oxygen. She quickly caught her breath and then they ambled around the city, looking for a place to eat.

Eventually, it became early enough for the bakeries to start baking. They found one and pounded on the front door, not realizing how hungry they were until food was within sight. They hadn't eaten in the past twenty four hours. A person finally came to door, recognizing them as tourists on a different sleeping schedule.

They sat at a small table and asked for whatever had just come out of the oven. Minutes later, a huge spread of different breads and croissants was before them. They both ate so quickly that there was hardly even time to talk.

"Oh my God. That was amazing," Caroline sighed as she finished.

"Good call," Klaus said as he leaned back in his chair.

They paid and thanked the worker for letting them in so early. Then they walked outside and found a bench, where they watched the sunrise.

Caroline leaned her head on Klaus's shoulder and said, "I think this may be the best decision I've ever made."

"Breakfast? Well, it was quite good."

"No, I meant coming on this trip. It's the only time I've done something spontaneous and exciting. Thank you so much for bringing me here." She interlaced his fingers with hers.

"Thank you for agreeing to come. This trip would be nothing without you."

"You're such a cheeseball," she shook her head.

He leaned down and kissed her as the sun lit up the city.

* * *

**So, how'd you like it? Review and tell me! The more you review, the more emails i get, and the more emails i get, the more likely i am to update! As always, you can follow me on tumblr at ihidemycrazy if you ship Klaroline. I'm also super into Supernatural right now, so you've been warned. Thank you so much for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Woah, I updated twice in one day. whoopsie. p.s. this is your smut warning. Beware (dun dun dun duuun).**

* * *

Stefan woke up about an hour after sunrise and jumped when he found Rebekah staring down at him, concerned.

"How long have you been watching me?" he asked as he sat up in bed.

"Only a few minutes. You seemed to be having a nightmare," she mumbled, almost to herself.

"I probably was," he sighed before lying back down and crossing his arms over his forehead.

"Want to go swimming?" Rebekah asked, pulling from the information Caroline gave her.

Stefan lifted his arms and looked at her. "Why?"

"I want to go swimming and I hate going alone," she responded, knowing that if she let on that she was doing this for him that he would refuse.

"Right now? Okay, sure, why not. I'll be ready in a minute." Then he slowly rolled out of bed and trudged to his bag in the closet.

"I'll go see if the others want to join us," Rebekah said, quickly hopping up and hoping that Caroline's presence might brighten Stefan's day.

She went to Caroline's room first and finding their absence, left a note saying that they should come to the pool ASAP. She then went to see if Elijah and Katherine wanted to join. They'd been holed up in their hotel room the entire time they'd been in Paris and after not talking to her brother for years, Rebekah really missed him.

She knocked quickly before entering and found her brother falling out of bed, pulling the sheet with him to cover his nakedness and Katherine pulling up the comforter for an attempt at modesty.

"Oh my God!" Rebekah screeched before she turned around.

She spoke to the door saying, "Stefan and I wanted to know if you two wanted to come swimming with us. So, well, get dressed and meet us down there in a few, kay? Bye."

She quickly ran back to her room. Stefan was already changed and leaning against the wall, waiting for her.

"I'm sorry, I've just be scarred for life, I'll only be a few minutes," she said before running to the bathroom to change.

Her bikini was a little sexier than the time called for, but it was the only one she brought and it made her look tan. Too bad she had already determined Stefan too emotionally damaged to be a romantic interest. She sighed quietly before leaving the bathroom.

"Ready?" she asked Stefan.

He nodded and they walked in near silence down to the hotel's pool. Luckily, the pool was salt instead of chlorine. Rebekah didn't see the point in swimming if she couldn't open her eyes underwater. Also, who wanted green hair?

Stefan dropped his stuff on a lounge chair and cannon-balled in, already visibly happier than he was when he woke up. Rebekah waded in after him, smiling as he came up and shook his head like a dog so his hair stuck out at odd angles.

Noticing her smile, Stefan grinned back and began to splash her. She splashed him back and it escalated to the point of full-on warfare, almost as if they were children.

Elijah and Katherine walked in. He asked, Are we interrupting something?"

Rebekah just laughed and pushed as much water as she could at him, almost soaking him. That was all it took. The estranged brother whom she hadn't spoken to in years was now holding her hand under the water like the siblings they were.

He finally let go and she was struggling for air in between laughs. "You ass," she said as she splashed him again. He just laughed and the splashing war continued.

* * *

Upstairs, Caroline and Klaus had finally returned to their room. Caroline decided that she would call Elena.

She picked up on the second ring. "Oh my God, Caroline, I'm so happy you called Is Stefan there? I really need to talk to him and he won't return my phone calls."

"I wonder why," Caroline responded dryly.

"Will you just tell him that I am so, so sorry that he found out like that. I mean, it's really his fault since he gave me no warning that he was coming home a day early, but I suppose that's just semantics."

"Elena, stop. I'm not calling to talk about Stefan. You really fucked that up and now I have to fix him. I am calling to check on my dog. You are remembering to feed Mojito, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's a dog. They're really not that hard. You probably could have just left him in your apartment and he'd be fine."

"Elena! This is not your relationship! You cannot neglect and kill my dog! Mojito better be the happiest dog in the world when I get back because that is the only thing that will stop me from killing you!" Caroline yelled into the phone before hanging up and tossing her phone onto the couch.

"I take it she is not the most responsible pet owner?" Klaus asked, gesturing to the phone.

"Not particularly. I hate that I had to leave Mojito with her, but the poor dog wouldn't have even made the flight here. Anxiety and whatnot. And Damon, for all his faults, actually will help Elena take care of everything. He's actually a pretty responsible guy."

Then she noticed the note. "Want to join everyone at the pool?" she asked.

"Sounds lovely, sweetheart."

She smiled and they both quickly changed. Caroline hadn't swam in ages and was so excited that when they got close, she started skipping. Klaus chuckled to himself as he watched her hair bounce up and down with every leap. Her constant happiness seemed almost strange to him, at least in comparison to his normal doom and gloom. But with her, he was happier. She was rubbing off on him.

He jogged to catch up with her before she opened the gate to the pool. He moved to put his hand on the small of her back but stopped, hovering there for a moment. Although she had effectively run away with him, he was still unsure of the parameters. He'd never put this much though behind every action, but how could he not when he feared that a mistake might send her back home to New York without him?

He decided he would just hold the gate open for her, be a gentleman, and if she wanted more, let her act on it. She walked through the gates and watched the curves of her body shift as she moved. He didn't understand why she had on all that glitter and oil at the club because she was beautiful just like this. She was a painting that he had just been caught staring too long at.

"You coming?" she smirked.

He chose that moment to run at her, sweeping her into his arms, and sending them both careening into the pool with a huge splash. When they both came up, the entire group was laughing. They swam over to the shallow end where everyone was standing, Caroline holding onto Klaus shoulders as he swam, feeling his muscles move beneath her fingers with every motion.

When he stopped moving, Caroline shifted so that her legs wrapped around his waist. He could feel her breasts pushed up against his back and it was so distracting that he had trouble carrying on a conversation. She would giggle into his neck whenever he lost track of a sentence, only making it more difficult for him to regain his thought.

After a while of teasing Klaus, Caroline began to notice the way Stefan was looking at Katherine. It wasn't necessarily a lust thing, it seemed as though her presence just made him miss Elena. Surely he knew that Elena was no longer worth his time, but she had been a constant presence in his life for so long that it must have felt strange to be without her. Caroline wondered why it was possible to miss a bad thing.

"So what did everyone do yesterday? I'm afraid Caroline and I were too exhausted to do much sightseeing," Klaus said.

Katherine responded first. "Yeah. Us too." She and Elijah then both shared a look and then giggled.

Klaus quickly turned to his sister, who said, "Stefan and I saw most of the sights. It's just as beautiful as when we came her two summers ago for Kol's birthday. Except there aren't nearly as many tourists. It was an incredibly pleasant day."

Stefan smiled to show his agreement.

"Well, that's good that you saw everything because I think we'll have to be moving on soon," Klaus said.

"Oh," he heard Caroline say over his shoulder, sounding glum. "How quickly do we have to leave?"

"I was thinking tomorrow night would probably be best. We still have time to see the sights if you'd like."

At that, Caroline brightened back up. "Okay, that'll be great!"

Her excitement made him smile.

Soon thereafter, Katherine and Elijah departed, whispering and giggling in each others' ears. Klaus rolled his eyes and mumbled to Caroline, "They could at least try to be more discrete."

Caroline just laughed in reply.

Stefan and Rebekah followed, something about Stefan not getting enough sleep last night and Rebekah wanting to see if her favorite café was still open.

Caroline and Klaus were the only ones left in the pool. They swam in circles around one another, talking quietly.

"Where will we be going next?" Caroline asked.

"I was thinking Italy or Greece depending on which one has a convenient flight time. Which would you prefer?"

"Well, we can go to them both eventually, right? I've always wanted to go to the Greek islands but also the Almalfi coast is supposed to be incredible."

"They both are. Although Almalfi has better gelato," he smiled.

"Okay, that has officially swayed the vote. Italy is my top choice."

Klaus laughed. "You're easy to please."

"Don't be so sure," she replied and suddenly, they were pushed together.

He kissed her hard, his hand sliding into her wet hair as her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling her closer. His tongue swept through her mouth smoothly and assuredly. When she needed to come up for air, Klaus worked his way down her neck, alternating kissing and lightly sucking, stopping at the indent between her collar bones.

Her hands slid down his back, tracing the contours of his muscles. His lips moved back to hers and she moaned into his mouth when his hands found her breasts over her bikini top. Her nipples grew hard at his touch and he quickly became exasperated with the material blocking skin to skin contact. He pulled two strings and suddenly her top was gone, floating on the surface of the pool a few feet from them.

His hands moved to cup her ass as he pushed her up higher on his body. His mouth made contact with her breast and she moaned his name as he sucked.

For a short moment, she remembered that they were in the middle of a public place and that someone could walk in at any moment or even look out their windows at them. The slight fear of discovery only turned her on more as she slid down Klaus's body and felt his hardness pushing between two layers to her core. She slowly grinded against him, deliberately trying to drive him insane. He groaned and placed his hands on her lower back, pushing her harder against him.

"Someone could see," Klaus breathed between kisses on her neck.

"All the more reason to make it good," she smiled.

With that, the last layers of clothing disappeared and she felt him positioning himself for a moment before he thrust into her, pulling her down by her waist as he pushed up with his hips. They increased speed and power until Caroline panted, "I'm so close. Come with me."

With one final thrust, she gripped his shoulders, digging in her nails, and screamed his name when she came. Feeling her explode around him, Klaus gasped, "Caroline," before falling into complete and totally pleasure himself.

"Funny that… the first time we don't get interrupted… is in a public place," Caroline laughed in between her deep breaths.

Klaus laughed in response and rested his forehead on her collar bone while he attempted to catch his breath.

* * *

Rebekah had loved this café since her first trip to Paris when she was twelve. The waiter had flirted with her and she distinctly remembers it as the first time she felt truly pretty. Also, the chocolate croissants were to die for.

She sat at a table in the back corner with a good book that she was only pretending to read. She really was looking around the store and wondering if she would have been a regular here in a different life. A life where her family made a modest, honest living and she had the opportunity to date someone and not put them in danger.

She heard her name called at the counter, so she quickly stood up to retrieve her order. She pushed her chair back as she stood up, which tripped the man walking behind her. He fell toward her and she was prepared to take the brunt of both falls when he suddenly caught them both on the edge of the table, one hand on her back, holding her up. For a moment, she was pressed against his hard chest and just staring into eyes that were such a deep blue that you could just fall into them.

"I apologize, miss," he said before righting them both.

"Oh, don't apologize. It was completely my fault," Rebekah stammered out.

"Well, how about I make it up to you anyways? What do you say to having a cup of coffee?" His smile could replace the sun.

Rebekah smiled back at him. "Sure. I'm Rebekah."

"Well, hello Rebekah. I'm Matt."

* * *

**Yay Matt! And yay smut! (Unless it sucked, which you should tell me. Not a ton of experience in that department, if you get my drift). For real, review and tell me if i did that right. Agh, anxiety. Well, anyway follow me on tumblr if you so please at ihidemycrazy. Thanks all of you for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me. :)**


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